WORCESTER — A proposal to give the Board of Health greater powers and reorganize the city's public health functions has cleared an important hurdle.

The City Council Tuesday night authorized City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. to file special legislation to change the Board of Health from advisory to regulatory.

The measure passed by an 8-2 vote, with Councilors-at-Large Michael T. Gaffney and Konstantina B. Lukes voting in opposition. District 2 Councilor Philip P. Palmieri did not attend the meeting because of the recent death of his mother.

The legislation being sought by the city would empower the local health board with all powers of boards of health under state law.

It would also return powers that the five-member Board of Health once had, rather than having them vested in one individual.

Mr. Augustus said such a move will better insulate public health policy decisions from politics.

"I think this makes for good public policy," he said.

Mr. Gaffney questioned whether the item — the recommendation of its Public Health and Human Services Committee — was properly before the council for consideration because it was not on the council agenda.

Because Tuesday night's meeting featured the city manager's calendar, reports from council committees and chairman's orders were not on the agenda and are not scheduled to be taken up until next week's meeting.

But because Mr. Augustus has said that time is of the essence in filing the legislation, District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera, chairman of the Public Health and Human Services Committee, brought the committee's report before the council Tuesday night under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Gaffney said having the council act on the committee's recommendation Tuesday night without it appearing on the agenda could be a violation of the state Open Meeting Law, especially if the mayor did not reasonably anticipate that it was going to be brought up.

But Ms. Rivera said she publicly announced at the conclusion of her committee meeting last Thursday that the report was going to be brought before the entire council under suspension of the rules because of the need to move as quickly as possible to file the legislation.

Mayor Joseph M. Petty said he anticipated that the item was going to come up before the council because of its emergency nature.

Given the circumstances, City Solicitor David M. Moore said he didn't see a violation of the Open Meeting Law.

Several councilors, meanwhile, said a delay of another week would not accomplish anything and give the city that much less time to win approval of its special legislation.

"Nothing is going to change next week; we'd just be kicking the can down the road through procedural posturing," said Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman.

Councilor-at-Large Kathleen M. Toomey and District 5 Councilor Gary Rosen also called for immediate action on the matter.

"We're not reinventing the wheel here," Mr. Rosen said. "We will be doing what is done in many other cities and towns. This has been talked about for a long time and I don't think we should wait any more. Let's vote this and move on."

Mr. Gaffney said he was concerned that a five-member Board of Health, appointed by the city manager would lack checks and balances because the public would not have a voice on public health matters.

But Mr. Petty disagreed, saying the city is simply taking the lead from what is done in many other communities.

"This is the right thing to do," the mayor said. "Can you imagine the City Council debating public health issues and taking it out of the hands of the experts? I am looking forward for this to move on."

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